Free Republic

California Gov. Gavin Newsom teared up Wednesday when announcing an expansion of the state’s Service Corps geared at recruiting young men. “Forgive me, this is embarrassing,” he said, as his eyes welled. “All the noise, we just need to turn off. Listen to this, this is it,” he continued while wiping tears off his face. “We’re all just sitting there, screaming and yelling at each other, everybody’s getting at each other’s throats, trying to tear everybody down, and how are we going to get out of this? This is it,” he went on. The governor’s teary showcase was in response...

An Israeli air strike has killed the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy, Israel’s defence minister says. The assassination of Alireza Tangsiri was carried out on Wednesday night and targeted other “senior officers of the naval command”, Israel Katz said on Thursday in a video statement. “The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping was blown up and eliminated,” he said. Since the start of the United States-Israel war on Iran on February 28, Israel has announced the assassination of several top Iranian officials, including...

NEW: Video of transgender attorney Rob Hopkins is going viral after security cameras captured her being tackled to the ground and jailed for contempt. Hopkins, an Oklahoma attorney, ignored repeated warnings and continued arguing and interrupting the judge before the officers were called in to arrest her. “I’m a transgender attorney practicing all over the state!” Hopkins shouted, also yelling that he “couldn’t breathe” and requesting a female officer.

An alleged drunk driver was arrested after driving through a gate at Daytona Beach International Airport and trying to board multiple planes. Bryan Parker, 58, was highly intoxicated on Wednesday around 4:25 p.m. when he entered the airport’s international terminal, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, The Hill reported. Parker entered the runway in his blue Ford Mustang and nearly struck a taxiing plane being used by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, according to witnesses. Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies said Parker tried to board an occupied, running airplane. However, the plane was locked, and he was unable to board. Parker...

Circuit: Suzuka International Racing Circuit First race: 1987 Length: 3.608 miles (5.807 metres) Race distance: 53 laps (191.054 miles / 307.471 km) Lap record: 1:26.983, Max Verstappen, 2025 Qualifying (Q3) Race lap record: 1:30.965, Kimi Antonelli, Lap 50, 2025 race

With only one week left in Canada’s buyback-of-banned-arms program, Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree suggests police will go door-to-door during Spring and Summer to collect guns. Rebel News published video of an exchange between Anandasangaree and House of Commons member Dane Lloyd. Lloyd said, “Minister, the declaration period for firearms owners is scheduled to end next week. So far, only 2.5 percent of the estimated two million effected firearms have been declared and 98 percent firearms owners haven’t made a declaration. So, if they’re not declaring by next week, what’s your plan, Minister?” Anandasangaree made clear he did not...

Costa Rica said Thursday that it would accept 25 migrants deported from the United States per week as part of an agreement to help the Trump administration’s latest policy of deporting immigrants to “third countries.” The Central American nation joins a growing number of countries across Africa and the Americas that have signed contentious, often secretive agreements with the U.S. to accept deportees from other countries as U.S. President Donald Trump pressures governments to help him advance his agenda. In many cases, migrants who previously hoped to seek asylum in the U.S. are left in a legal “black hole” in...

Iran appears to be setting itself up as the gatekeeper for the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important artery for oil shipments. The move could cement Tehran’s de facto chokehold over the crucial waterway and formalize its ability to keep its own oil flowing to China. Iranian communications to the United Nations maritime authority and the experience of ships transiting the Strait suggest the creation of something akin to a “toll booth.” Ships must enter Iranian waters and be vetted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. At least two vessels have paid for passage. Traffic through the Strait has...

Doubt is taking over again from hope on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran, and stocks are back to falling as oil prices rise Thursday. The S&P 500 sank 1.4%, more than erasing its gain from the day before, and is back on track for a fifth straight losing week. That stretches back to before the war with Iran began, and it would be the longest such streak in nearly four years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 384 points, or 0.8%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 2%...

The claim that an uprising in Iran can be "ignited" through external action sounds dramatic, but it is equally misleading. An uprising is not an event that can be manufactured from the outside, certainly not at the push of a button. Anyone familiar with how intelligence organizations operate knows that uprisings are not created but identified, amplified and at times guided... The first stage is diagnosis: identifying points of frustration, feelings of humiliation, loss of meaning and the gap between the official narrative and reality. This is a quiet, almost invisible stage, but a critical one. Without a precise understanding...

All those empty office buildings in downtown Seattle are dragging down property values, according to newly-released King County Assessor data. According to the King County Assessor’s Office, the city’s most valuable skyscrapers have lost $3.7 billion in value since 2022. Approximately a third of downtown commercial space remains vacant. Among the biggest decreases in value are the Amazon Doppler Tower and Meeting Center (62% drop), Amazon’s Day One Tower and Spheres (59% drop), the DocuSign Tower on 999 Third Street (56% drop), Amazon’s Re-Invent Towers (55% drop), and the US Bank Centre (53% drop). The three Amazon office buildings listed...

An official from one of the countries mediating between the US and Iran tells The Times of Israel that US President Donald Trump appears to be leaning toward ordering a major US ground operation against Iran, with Washington convinced Tehran will buckle under such military pressure. The official intimately familiar with the mediation efforts says the US privately recognizes that Iran is not likely to agree to the concessions presented in Washington’s 15-point plan and has dispatched thousands of troops to the region in order to capture Tehran’s Kharg Island on Trump’s orders. A second official from a mediating country...

A Chinese brother and sister have been charged over a chilling IED plot targeting a US Air Force base that serves as a nerve center for America's war with Iran. *** Alen Zheng, 20, and Ann Mary Zheng, 27, were charged Wednesday in separate federal indictments after the explosive device was found outside a gate at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa on March 16. The sister is in custody; the brother has fled to China, FBI director Kash Patel said.

Muslims are the only immigrant group who come to the West with a ready made model of society they believe to be superior to Western law and they work furiously, by all means, to impose it. Under Islam, shariah (Islamic) law supersedes Western law. Anywhere Western law and Shariah law conflict, it is always Western law that must give way. What those of us working in defense of freedom did not expect, was the craven capitulation and cowardice by Western left elites to Islamic supremacy.

Hollywood actress Sydney Sweeney sparked outrage on social media after posting an Instagram story overnight (Thursday) showing a video call with her younger brother, Trent. Trent, who serves in the United States Air Force, was recently deployed overseas amid the war involving Iran. The 28-year-old actress intended to express patriotism, writing alongside the image: “Receiving calls from my bro always make me happy when he’s deployed. Thinking of all our boys and girls overseas and sending my love! Thank you for your service :)." However, the personal gesture was met with a wave of disturbing hate, apparently linked to her...

@Ed_Miliband We’re investing £64m to transform Port Talbot into Wales' first floating offshore wind hub. That means 5,000 good jobs, £500m of investment and enough clean power for 6.5m homes. We are putting Wales at the heart of our clean energy superpower mission.

The civil war we are living in is becoming more and more apparent. The left needs criminal aliens to vote for Democrats, to skew legislative seats away from Republicans through gerrymandered districts that only Democrats are allowed to gerrymander and no public issue can be agreed upon. The only issue that the overwhelming majority of US citizens agree upon is the SAVE Act and the highly-partisan congress cannot pass it. That tells you all there is to know about the civil war within congress and if Republicans were not half communists themselves, this would be passed. The long TSA lines...

Cory Booker speaking to an empty Newark Airport with no lines saying, “Donald Trump has bought chaos to our airports.”

70 hospice and home health providers in Los Angeles were cut off from federal funding in one week after being flagged for fraud by Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force, with officials indicating that additional providers are likely to be flagged as the review widens. Early findings point to a broader network of activity than the initial suspensions suggest. “As the task force to root out waste, fraud and abuse ramps up, we expect this number to grow exponentially.” As RedState previously reported, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee has now opened an investigation into what they describe as “rampant”...

Dash Crofts, best known for creating the hit song, "Summer Breeze," as a member of Seals & Croft, has died ... TMZ has learned. A family member tells TMZ ... Crofts died Wednesday from complications of a heart surgery. No plans for a memorial have been set at this time. His death was first announced by producer Louie Shelton early Thursday morning. Shelton produced Seals & Crofts’ biggest projects, including 1971’s “Year of Sunday,” 1972’s “Summer Breeze,” 1973’s “Diamond Girl,” and 1976’s “Get Closer," per All Music. Dash -- real name Darrell Crofts -- was half of Seals & Crofts...